Patok By Rach, which describes itself as a Filipina restaurant, is located on the upper reaches of Broadway in Inwood, with plenty of parking space in the vicinity if you have a car. The menu has been pared down to the essentials — but rendered in distinguished form at reasonable prices. The lechon kawali (nuggets of pork belly fried in lard) is a highlight, and laing (taro leaves cooked in coconut milk) is a transcendently good vegetarian dish.

Bilao, referring to the basket for drying rice in Tagalog, was one of those restaurants that was born in the midst of the pandemic. The menu consists of greatest hits of the cuisine with breakfast, lunch, and dinner offered. Favorites included a fish congee called goto, kare-kare (an oxtail stew thickened with peanut butter and bobbing with green beans), and a sizzling sisig incorporating hog ear, jowls, and liver.

Until the 1980s, the Port Authority and surrounding vicinity was a haven for small Philippine turo-turo steam table cafes. So the location of Tradisyon in Hell’s Kitchen seems perfect. It presents Filipino food in fast-casual bowls. Recommended dishes include pork adobo with a boiled egg, and laing — taro leaves cooked in coconut milk. Wash it down with calamansi, a drink made with the miniature limes native to the archipelago.

This double storefront with one side devoted to carryout, the other to sit-down dining, is an LA import. In addition to steam-table dishes of a classic sort, and a pig head or two, it offers charcoal grilled brochettes for one dollar that include pig intestines, fried wontons, chicken hearts, and hot dogs.

Renee’s has been serving a broad range of Filipino staples — from chicken adobo and sinigang na baboy (pork soup), to rarer delicacies like dinuguan (pork blood stew) and chicharon bulaklak (deep fried pork-ruffle chips) — since 1992. But the restaurant’s specialty is the cuisine from the province of Pampanga, the birthplace of sisig and the breakfast bacon tocino. Renee’s has family-style specials thath are eaten kamayan feast-style with the hands.

Launched on a side street in Little Manila overlooking the BQE in 1997, Ihawan has been an anchor of the Woodside’s Little Manila ever since. While a full menu of Philippine faves is available, the emphasis is on cooked-over-flame barbecue, presented with rice and a vinegary sauce. Barbecue is known as “ihaw-ihaw” in Tagalog, and here runs to skewers of pork, chicken, or beef and their offal.

Head to this spacious Woodside restaurant that’s been around since 2006 with Mario Albenio as owner and chef. It boasts particularly strong grilled options, like the tuna jaw or belly, along with skewers of chicken, pork, or sausage, all served alongside pickled vegetables. Most dishes are bargain-priced, and served with fluffy rice. Lively birthday bashes are common, so ice cream sundaes are another specialty.

Competing with the nearby Jollibee’s for chicken supremacy, Max’s Restaurant cooks up one of best rotisserie chickens in Jersey City. The chain restaurant has been a household name for this iconic dish since 1945. It’s also known for crispy pata (deep fried pig trotters), and other favorites like kare-kare.

An offshoot of an Elmwood Park, New Jersey, restaurant of the same name, Mama Fina’s has a casual counter service set-up. Chef and co-founder Aming Sta Maria and her husband Samuel Sta Maria run both locations, where the focus is on sisig served sizzling on a cast iron platter in multiple iterations (pork, chicken, squid, tuna, and milkfish). Other highlights include breakfasts like longsilog — a sweet and spicy sausage — served with fried eggs and garlic fried rice.

Located on the Lower East Side, Gugu Room is a Philippine restaurant with Japanese flourishes refashioned as a cocktail lounge, and it’s loads of fun. Rock shrimp tempura is topped with caviar and served as a pair of tacos, but there are also more traditional dishes like barbecued brochettes of pork belly, longanisa sausage, and rib-eye; short rib or tofu kare-kare; and chicken adobo.

Located in Jersey City’s West Side neighborhood near a light rail line, Jayhan’s is neither a steam-table joint nor and old-fashioned sit down restaurant, but a modern bistro. Deep-fried items, grilled dishes, and seafood are three specialties, and you should consult the multiple chalkboards for daily specials. In the Filipino style, eating with the hands is encouraged.

Former Cendrillon chef Romy Dorotan, along with co-owner Amy Besa, opened this charming Ditmas Park restaurant in 2012, focusing on brighter and lighter Philippine fare with the occasional Korean flourish. Dorotan turns out the classics like lumpia Shanghai — a take on Chinese egg rolls — every bit as deliciously greasy as you would like, and chicken adobo, said to be the national dish. The vegetable-driven dishes are represented by grilled eggplant kulawo, a salad accented with green mango and presented sprawled engagingly on the plate.

This Staten Island restaurant in the Rosebank neighborhood under chef Emanuel Imperial offers a mix of modern dishes — such as adobo chicken wings and sisig tacos, featuring crispy shells filled with minced chicken — alongside more traditional fare like kaldereta, a goat stew, and crispy pata, a deep-fried pig knuckle. Spring roll lumpia are served either fried, as is most common, or fresh with steamed skins.